Pray with JOY!

           Have you had your JOY JUICE today?  Pray that God will help you to drink it consistently!

            Often I find myself in settings where young women want to know more about growing in their walk with God.  In one of those groups not long ago, the discussion went to the subject of prayer.  “Why do we pray?” one woman sincerly asked. She continued, “If God is sovereign and He knows the outcome before we even pray—why do we pray?”

            I found myself fumbling to answer her question; my words seemed “empty”. I used all the right Christian jargon, but I was unsettled and dissatisfied with my inadequate answer. I began to dig into the scriptures to see what God’s Word tells us about prayer.  In Matthew 6 where we find the “model prayer” from Jesus.  In verse 5, Jesus says: “And when you pray…”  He didn’t say, “And IF you pray…”  WHEN we pray (so I take that as instruction from the Lord that, indeed, we should pray). 

            Jesus begins this passage by telling us that WHEN we pray we should NOT  pray like the “hypocrites” or like the “heathen”. ⁵ “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

            Hypocritical praying is acting like prayers are for God when they really are meant to impress men. These prayers are not genuine. Jesus, also, warned against praying like the heathen—trying to impress God with lengthy, flowery prayers.  David Jeremiah quoted one writer to say: “One sentence burdened with the heart’s desire is dearer to God than an hour’s rehearsing of words and phrases with no longing behind them.”

            When we pray, let’s pray with genuine hearts of love and JOY.